REINHARD HEYDRICH.
CAREER AND VIOLENCE.
EXHIBITION IN BERLIN.
Topography of Terror Foundation
From 1934, Heydrich's office was located at the Secret State Police Office on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 8 in Berlin, where today the Topography of Terror Documentation Center is situated.
The Topography of Terror Foundation presents the special exhibition "Reinhard Heydrich. Career and Violence." That will be available until 10 June 2025. The exhibition examines the course and conditions of Heydrich's rise and sheds light on his role in key criminal complexes of the Nazi regime.
Dr. Andrea Riedle, director of the Topography of Terror Foundation, commented on the project: “The exhibition on Reinhard Heydrich is the first of our foundation to focus on the biography of a central figure in the terror apparatus of the SS and police. A major milestone in his Nazi career was reached nearly 85 years ago, with the establishment of the Reich Main Security Office and Heydrich’s appointment as its head. His career path is extensively framed within the development of the Nazi terror apparatus, which he helped shape. The special exhibition is an important addition to the permanent exhibition of our Documentation Center—also because it provides a more detailed examination of the occupation period in the German-occupied part of Czechoslovakia."
About the Exhibition
Reinhard Heydrich is primarily known today as the chair of the “Wannsee Conference” on January 20, 1942, in Berlin, where high-ranking representatives from ministries, party offices, and occupation authorities discussed organizational matters related to the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question." Less well known is Heydrich's career. His entry into National Socialism dates back to 1931, when he joined the SS and NSDAP, and was tasked by Heinrich Himmler in Munich with building an intelligence service. After the Nazis took power, he rose under Himmler to become the most important man in the surveillance and persecution apparatus of the SS and police.
During World War II, Heydrich was the head of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) and claimed a leading role in organizing the Holocaust. In September 1941, he was also appointed "Acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia"and ruthlessly suppressed resistance in the German-occupied part of Czechoslovakia. In late May 1942, an assassination attempt on him in Prague led to his death from the resulting injuries. The Nazi regime celebrated him as a “martyr” and brutally avenged his death.
How did Reinhard Heydrich manage to rise during the Nazi era? What influenced him in his early years? How did he come into contact with the NSDAP and the SS? What role did he play in the expansion of the SS Security Service (SD) and the Nazi police apparatus, which ultimately exercised terror and violence across much of Europe? How is Heydrich to be classified as a perpetrator? And finally, how was Heydrich received after his death, and how is he perceived today? – These are the questions addressed by the exhibition "Reinhard Heydrich. Career and Violence."
The exhibition thoroughly documents Heydrich’s key role in the increasingly radical Nazi persecution and extermination policies. It also explores images and ideas about his person, originating in Nazi propaganda, that were either perpetuated or reinterpreted after 1945 and, in some cases, remain influential to this day.
While the exhibition follows a biographical approach, it goes beyond Heydrich’s personal history. His career is contextualized within the development and functioning of the entire Nazi terror apparatus, which he helped shape. The exhibition also examines the structures Heydrich operated within, the networks he built, and the personnel policies he implemented. Other perpetrators are also thematically integrated into the narrative, with some short biographies included.
The central focus of the exhibition is the complex of crimes for which Heydrich was responsible. One of the main topics is his role in the persecution and murder of the Jewish population in Germany and Europe, but lesser-known aspects are also discussed. In addition to examining the perpetrators, the exhibition repeatedly gives a face to the victims of Nazi persecution and murder through the stories of exemplary biographies.
Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942) had a meteoric rise in the Nazi state. Within just a few years, under Heinrich Himmler, he became the most powerful man in the SS and police surveillance and persecution apparatus. He bore responsibility for countless crimes committed by employees of the agencies he led and played a leading role in the persecution and murder of Jews in Europe.
16